Lord Curzon on March 27th summed up the Indian Budget
debate in a long and, on the whole, optimistic speech. He took credit for great military reforms and improvements in frontier policy, and for pestricting the incessant changes in the personnel of -civil administration due to ill-judged rules of leave. He hinted pretty clearly at the same time that Viceroys ought to remain longer instead of passing away as "fleeting phantoms," a view strongly supported by the example of Lord Cromer, who has governed Egypt for sixteen years. He also denounced the "divorce brought about between the officer and his work by interminable writing," an old Indian complaint-. He defended railways because they "developed the unity of India" (do we want that?), but promised great works of irrigation, to which the only objection is that they breed the multitudes they supply with food. Clearly, Lord Curzon is no Roi-faingant, and in most eases his judgment seems equal to his energy. He has been lucky, too, in finance, for the rupee is getting" stable."
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